I've Decided to Move to Print... for a Day

When Metro US asked me to be guest editor of their daily newspapers in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, it immediately reawakened my early love affair with print, going back to my school years in Athens when my father was a newspaper editor, and newspaper after newspaper that he ran kept going out of business -- but that's another story.

I loved the idea of editing a newspaper... for a day.

I'm constantly asked about working online versus working in print -- as if new media and traditional media are engaged in a winner-take-all steel-cage-death-match fight-to-the-finish instead of each adjusting to new realities and navigating an uncertain path to the future. I firmly believe in a hybrid future where old media players embrace the ways of new media (transparency, interactivity, immediacy) and new media companies adopt the best practices of old media (fairness, accuracy).

For me, it's never been an either/or proposition. Whatever the platform, it's all about having interesting content and delivering it in a compelling manner.

It was great fun working with the Metro staff picking which stories to feature -- and offering my take on the day's top news.

If you live in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, pick up a copy of Metro and see what we've come up with. If you don't (or if you prefer getting your news online), here are links to some of the stories we selected, and my take on them.

The issue also features a column by me and a multi-feature spread on one of my favorite organizations, the Harlem Children's Zone, run by a man I have long admired, the remarkable Geoff Canada.

The Story: The AIG Bonus Fight
My Take: It's a battle to see who is more tone-deaf: the AIG execs pushing for bonuses despite running the company into the ground or the members of the Obama administration who didn't realize this would inspire such outrage.

The Story: AIG Outrage Threatens to Deplete Obama's Political Capital
My Take: Obama didn't realize soon enough how ineffective and powerless allowing these bonuses would make him and his administration look. He needs to win this fight.

The Story: Some States Want to Buck Obama on Stem Cell Research
My Take: Obama's executive order was a major setback in the Right's War on Science. This is an attempt by those longing for an Age of Dis-Enlightenment to do an end run against him -- and against the will of the majority of Americans.

The Story: The Pope Claims that Condoms Make the AIDS Crisis Worse
My Take: No matter how overwhelming the evidence, there are always a few true believers who just won't admit they're wrong. To have Pope Benedict leading the flat-earth anti-condom chorus while flying to a place where 22 million people are infected with HIV boggles the mind.

The Story: Facing Budget Cuts, Philadelphia Considers Legalizing Marijuana
My Take: Incarceration of non-violent drug offenders does not improve public safety. Treatment and accountability do. We need to rethink America's war on drugs, which has increasingly become a war on young people of color -- especially in these desperate economic times.

The Story: A Profile of Geoff Canada and The Harlem Children's Zone
My Take: Ever since Geoff Canada returned to Harlem with a master's from Harvard and a third-degree black belt, he's been fighting a block-by-block and child-by-child battle against poverty, drugs, gangs, and indifference. Through the Harlem Children's Zone, he's turned around lives while reminding America that we have, in too many ways, and in too many places, failed our children. He's a hands-on hero.

Comments

[salh]

rono71 got it wrong . Pres. Obama is going to be the most destructive president that we have ever had. Anyone who urges to pass a bill without giving Congress to read it and critque it is "NUTS". He is going to spend the U.S. into oblivion. All of this is being done to pacify the Democratic Party for getting him elected. Not more then two weeks have gone by without regret by Demoratic leaders. HASTE MAKES WASTE!!! REMEMBER there are American voters who oppose him.

[sirgeek]

Isn't that how congress has operated for the last 50 years ?

Have an aid read the bill 1 hour before you need to vote on it or just guess what the intent of the bill is, then vote on the bill the way your party tells you to do.

How the heck do you think the (un)Patriot act got passed ? (No one read the damned thing).

[PhilipTaylor]

You were Fantastic on Larry King Show last night (3 Videos at link) on AIG and will be great in this role:

http://www.hu_ffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-discusses-outrage_b_176130.html?show_comment_id=22065415#comment_22065415

Obama must change the following:

1. The WS Culture must Change including the removing "DADDY FED" who is Obsolete!
2. Mark to Market is some form must remain
3. We need temporary regulations while the Final Regulations are developed
4. We must keep the Lobbyists out of our Government Regulations
5. Recognize Larry Summers/Tim Geithner are part of the Culture that must GO, perhaps keep as support staff!
6. Evaluate FED that has OUTGROWN its usefulness feeding the Corrupt Culture!
7. Government must control WS until the Culture of WS (CNBC) is changed and Banks can be trusted AGAIN! Then and only then can Government leave Banking!

Perhaps Government should loan directly to the People at low Rates and Fees, instead of the "TRICKLE DOWN LOANS" the FED and the BANKSTERS want with their DRAMATIC action today!

[Oldtimer]

I second your list but would add that we pass an Edward R Murrow Media Act that
brings back the Fairness Doctrine, and breaks up the corporate stranglehold on television.

[billw8017]

Among the most controversial leftish parts of the Weimar Republic (Germany in the 1920s) was the article of its constitution that said, its laws covered all the people, rich and poor, in the same way. In these days of populist outrage, America remains a country where the rich can get away with murder. (Of course, the defense lawyers take all their money and, afterward, they can't get away with anything. To really get away with it, you have to be very very rich.)

This is consistant with monkey studies indicating that under conditions of extreme deprivation, the higher ranked notice little discomfort, the lowest ranked are left to crawl away and starve. This makes sense: Their community keeps its strength up to fight off enemies instead of everybody being weakened.

Given erosion, pollution and global warming, humanity may face a population decline, the situation where the elite begin to cut out the less elite while, as Ronald Reagan said of the good old days, we didn't notice anything wrong.

All of this is to say, things could be worse and probably trend that way if people can't be sharing and anticipating problems. Arianna is doing good and deserves the respect the Metro people extended.

[JimBozo]

I pick up NYC Metro every morning- mostly for my wife, as she likes the crossword puzzle. I usually leaf through it, because I'm a compulsive reader, but I usually have seen everything in it already, from Huffpo, the night before. Metro is even more of a McPaper than USA Today. Sorry for peeing on your parade, Arianna, but that's the way it is- to quote Walter Cronkite. One of these days you'll be able to buy the NYTimes for less than you'd pay for General Motors, so don't lose that print news urge.

[Changeizgood]

Arianna;
I believe that the American bloggers here will have to decide, is the site worth 10 to fifteen dollars a year for subscription, to pay for the reporters who article at huffpo. I'll pay that much annually, to be able to voice here. It's about the same price as newspapers and it will keep reporters digging for the truth, that has to be funded and you my dear, have been invaluable, should have your own show, and are well worth the fee.


A$$, Grass, or cash, nobody reads for free. This site ain't going nowhere. Soon as the other (news) sites get the bias out, maybe people wouldn't lol, at them asking for fees, for their drivel and negative garbage.

Rush Limpbucket and the REslugs can' pay them, that's what they like right? See how far or long they last, being so wrong all the time, and out of touch with the pulse of America.

[TomBrentwood]

Please make sure to report on the Op Ed from today's NYT by Stephanie Cooke regarding our failed
energy policy as directed by the obsolete Energy Department: A Nuclear Waste (March 18, 2009).
Outstanding work by Ms. Cooke.

[FrankKalder]

I enjoyed reading about your roots in Athens, in particular, that your father edited a newspaper.

Your firm belief in a hybrid future of "new media" embracing transparency, interactivity, and immediacy, based on adopted traditional practices such as fairness and accuracy, can be bravely supported as far as I'm concerned.

[Joseph Singer]

Interesting that you should have this day following the last day of the printed Seattle Post-Intelligencer which is going to be an on line only publication.

The realities of media are that unless you can pay your bills you have to shut down and turn out the lights.

[Ksisay]

Hey, Arianna! congrats! I live in NYC and often pick up the Metro from one of the free sidewalk boxes. Will surely do so today. And thanks for reporting on a local social entrepreneur, Geoffrey Canada. He certainly places people like Bernie Madoff in high-relief. If only our President would have chosen someone like Paul Krugman to handle the finances! Geithner looks like a deer in the headlights these days, what with his old buddies pulling one way and the American people another...

[Mauimom]

Arianna, I think one of the MOST important stories you chose is the Geoff Canada/Harlem Children's Zone one.

Not because it's a "feel good" or "thousand points of light" one.

Yes, it shows what one individual can do.

Yes, it shows that if you sweep away all the No Child Left Behind + Let Us Charge You Lots of $$$$ and Tell You How Crappy Your Schools Are BS, and instead reduce class size and get good teachers + aides, you can make a difference.

But most of all, it's a needed contrast to AIG. Think about how many Harlem Children's Zones could be created, all around the country, from just ONE of those immoral bonuses. Now multiply that by the number of folks who are getting them, and the number of years this robbery has been going on.

I live on Maui, and perhaps to the surprise of some, the public school system here ranks down there with LA, MS and AL. Huge classes, no aides, insufficient materials. Few preschool or after-school programs. Classrooms in which students speak 9 or 12 different languages, including exotic ones like Tik-Tik and Tag-a-log. Kids who arrive in kindergarten literally off the plane or boat, speak no English and don't know numbers or letters.

We could do a LOT with an AIG bonus. Thanks for the contrast.

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

Too late for the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

[islanddreamer]

Arianna, ever thought of running for president? I'd vote for you in a heartbeat. Your take on these issues is spot on.

[ListenAndLearn]

I like her, too, but I believe she's foreign-born.

[Dredd]

Ariana, put this in writing please ...

Jon Stewart should interview junk bond king Milken's underling who started AIG's toxic "asset" department:

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/03/out-on-false-front.html

[AbrahamSadegh]

I would rather have the freedom on any single day to have access to both the online services as well as the print. They are not mutually exclusive but if I had to make a choice then the likes of the Huffington Post would be the obvious one.

I also have a suggestion and a question about the absurd AIG bonus controversy. The suggestion is that under the circumstances, before wasting any more of nation's time and energy with a non-issue issue under the present economic circumstances, those who are to receive bonuses should have the grace to publicly announce that they do not want those bonuses now or ever.

My question is about the kind of contract that binds a business to pay a bonus to begin with. Can a business entity honor its contractual commitment to pay a bonus if it goes bankrupt or has a net loss? How can it? Where would the money come from? Isn't a bonus applicable only in the case of a business being profitable?

Without the $170,000,000,000 allocated to AIG, an incredible portion of the stimulus budget, AIG would now be dead and buried after having infected a major portion of humanity with a deadly business virus. Can a dead entity, who would probably be in the metaphorical hell for all the sins it has committed, be able to pay one single penny for anything, much less $160,000,000 in bonuses?

[sunny123]

Arianna once again you have nailed it. Thank you. We need both...newspapers and internet. One to sit with a cup of coffee and read and the other to share our ideas with others, to learn from both is the way to critical thinking. I read my daily paper before I turn on the computer, then I spend the rest of the day researching and seeking out ideas to go with what I have read in the paper and online.

I can't imagine life without the printed word. Thanks for the great HufPo!

[leonardse]

Sunny 123-

You are right. The morning paper and 1/2 pot of coffee (with cream, no sugar) is a most enjoyable part of the day. Being in a smaller community, the local news is also of interest. I don't want to sit in front of a computer to read my news. I had enough of computers in my career and limit my time now that I am retired. It is kinda like the damned telephone. I had enough of that at work and I am happiest when the damned thing doesn't ring all day.

I guess if we are to be "green", then we need to use less paper. However, I don't want to lose the printed word.

[Changeizgood]

The only problem with my idea is that the poor, like me don't always have access to the computer or cable to get the news, local news walks on eggshells, when reporting they have a dragon watching every word that is political and fear being replaced.

I guess after they went after other media reporters like Rather, they are worried about joining the ranks of the unemployed or retraining. As I said, most of the Political information I gathered during the campaign for two long years, was passed by door to door canvassing with a lot of printouts of what Obama was doing in the campaign. It paid off, but I wish they had some viable way of connecting to the politics, to make better voters for elections.

An informed voter is the best voter.

Just something to think about, with grassroots growing everyday.

[Guitarsandmore]

Let’s not be in a hurry to destroy newspapers and books. We should allow plenty of overlap during the transition so that everyone is included. Besides, it’s just fun to buy a paper or a book, curl up and read.

I love my computer and the day never passes that I don’t turn it on and fire off a nasty gram to someone (Obama administration you are next)!

Not everyone has broadband yet or a computer and the knowledge of how to use it but even for those of us that do there are those other times when the software will do something rebellious, lock up your computer, and all of a sudden you have nothing.

So it’s nice to have options and a certain level of redundancy built into our communications networks.

[foresight]

Adrianna,

Thank You from all of us for providing this fair and open forum. It is a God Send for the People who are not being represented by their "elected officials" Their complicated and exclusive system of trying to communicate with them is not only intimidating but treats their constituents like they have nothing to do with the reason they are in Washington.

[ron071]

HE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST

The history of George W. Bush is now complete and the trail of destruction he left in his wake is clear from Texas to D.C. How such a dangerous idealogue and incompetent manager ever have been elected to the power of US destruction? We need to ask the US Supreme Court and the American voters for the answer. Harkin Energy and the USA are very similar in all respects except the size of the the destruction.